1Mrochen M. C., 2Jankov M., 3Seiler T.

3Augenklinik, UniversitätsSpital Zürich, Schweiz; 2Departamento de Oftalmologia, Santa Casa de Sao Paulo, Brasil; 1ETH, Zürich, Schweiz

Objective: To evaluate the differences of wavefront and topography measurements for analyzing the higher and lower order posterior optical aberrations of the human eye.
Methods: Wavefront aberrations were measured in 50 healthy eyes by means of an Tscherning-type aberrometer after the pupils were dilated to a diameter of at least 6.5 mm. The wavelength used in the measuring device was 532 nm. The topography data measured with a commercially available topography system (Oculus Keratograph, Oculus Optikgeräte GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany). Wavefront and corneal aberrations were identically decomposed into Zernike coefficients. The difference between both wavefront maps were calculated to determine the wavefront aberrations of the posterior optical system of the eye.
Results: In general, the posterior optical system, mainly the human lens, compensates for a large amount of spherical aberration preexisting in the cornea. In eyes with large higher order corneal aberrations measured by topography the total wavefront aberrations determined by the aberrometer yield a similar result. In contrast, eyes with small or moderate corneal aberration demonstrate a discrepancy between both techniques.
Conclusion: Combining wavefront and topography measurements enable to determine the posterior optical aberrations of the human eye.

Copyright © Deutsche Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft, 2001. All rights reserved.

Last updated: 

Webdesign: SPALLEK.COM